U.S. Supreme Court: 100,000 Hispanic Voters Disenfranchised Under 2003 Texas Re-Redistricting
June 29, 2006
The U.S. Supreme Court held on Wednesday, June 28, that 100,000 Hispanic voters were disenfranchised under Tom DeLay's illegal 2003 re-redistricting plan. By a 5-4 vote, the court held that District 23 violated the Voting Rights Act.
Written by Senator Eliot Shapleigh, www.shapleigh.org
The U.S. Supreme Court held on Wednesday, June 28, that 100,000 Hispanic voters were disenfranchised under Tom DeLay's illegal 2003 re-redistricting plan. By a 5-4 vote, the court said that District 23 in Southwest Texas -- represented by Republican Henry Bonilla -- violated the Voting Rights Act, because its design violated the rights of Hispanic voters.
"State legislators changed District 23 specifically because they worried that Latinos would vote Bonilla out of office," Justice Kennedy wrote for the plurality:
In response to the growing participation that threatened Bonilla's incumbency, the State divided the cohesive Latino community in Webb County, moving about 100,000 Latinos to District 28, which was already a Latino opportunity district, and leaving the rest in the district where they now have little hope of electing their candidate of choice.
At the heart of the Court's ruling is the importance of the Voting Rights Act, which is being threatened by a Republican-dominated Congress. This month, Rep. John Carter (R-Round Rock) and other GOP leaders attempted to stop re-authorization of the Voting Rights Act. "I don't think we have racial bias in Texas anymore," Rep. Carter was quoted saying last week. Instead, today's ruling shows the need for the Voting Rights Act in Texas is alive and well.
In order to remedy the violation of §2 of the Act, Justice Kennedy stated that the "[t]he districts in south and west Texas will have to be redrawn."
In 2002, DeLay allegedly conspired to launder corporate contributions to political candidates to win a Republican majority in Texas. Rather than use that majority to solve the education and healthcare crises facing the state, he used it to further consolidate political power and redraw Congressional districts favoring Republicans. In July 2003, 11 Texas Senators traveled to Albuquerque for six weeks to block DeLay's illegal re-redistricting scheme. Last week's move by Republicans to remove Texas from the Voting Rights Act is consistent with a long tragic history of Republican attempts to disenfranchise minority voters. Florida in 2000, Ohio in 2004 and today's Texas decision confirm what many of us feel -- America must rededicate herself to basic propositions of one-person, one-vote, one healthy democracy.
Today, the Court has affirmed that protecting voters' rights in Texas is worth the fight.
"When 100,00 Hispanics are disenfranchised by Tom DeLay's illegal re-redistricting, then the Supreme Court made the right decision. Voting is what democracy is all about," said Senator Shapleigh.
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